Photo answers review
Photo answers rating 
The Ricoh G600 screams “tough compact”. It’s pretty large, and there’s a chunky rubber-based casing around the camera, meaning that rather than going for the understated look, the Ricoh G600’s design really embraces its tough credentials.
You have to work a little harder with the Ricoh G600, but there are bags of options available, including six Scene modes, one of which is the amusingly titled “Firefighting mode – For shooting the scene of a fire”.
To test its toughness, for the October 2008 issue, Digital Photo dropped the Ricoh G600 from 1.5m. It bounched off the floor and came to an abrupt halt then sprung into life without hesitation once it was powered up– and thanks to the predominately rubber finish, it was completely unmarked after its tumble.
Exposure-wise, it produced well-exposed shots, and the Auto White handled most scenes very well.
This is an extremely solid compact camera which will go on working when pushed to the extreme. That toughness comes at a price, though, both in size and hard cash – it’s on the bulky side for a compact and it’s hard to ignore it costs £100 more than the rival
Olympus mju 1030 SW.
Tough factsWaterproof: up to 4m
Shockproof: 1.5m
Freezeproof: -100C
Crushproof: N/A
SpecificationSensor: 10Mp
Lens: 28-140mm, f/3.5-5.5
Image stabilisation: Digital
Shooting modes: Auto and 6 scene modes
Shutter range: 8-1/1500sec
ISO range: 50-3200
Screen: 2.5in, 230k pixels
Storage media: SD/SDHC
Write speed: 3secs
File format: JPEG
Weight: 260g
Dimensions: 116.5x68x32mm
Visit:
www.ricoh.co.uk